Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is one of the greatest things in life.

Yes, definitely! Though it is hard to come by.... Also of great interest to any Haynes fan (and easier to get--there's a legit DVD edition available) is his PBS short, Dottie Gets Spanked.

Logged

""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

they used to have a dvd quality copy of it but took it down so they could burn it and sell them to the unsuspecting. good thing i saved it on my computer before that happened.

anyway, dottie gets spanked is also quite good, but i honestly don't know how/if a straight audience could really relate to it. i'm curious to know if any other posters have seen it and what their thoughts are on it.

Logged

The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil’s rain we’ll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, ’cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, ’cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put ’em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put ’em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

2 hourlong audio interviews with Todd Haynes from the Museum Of The Moving Image circa Velvet Goldmine and Far From Heaven...

Todd Haynes - November 3, 2002Far From Heaven is Todd Haynes’s most critically acclaimed film to date. Nominated for four Oscars, it swept the New York Film Critics Circle awards, including Best Film and Best Director. Both an homage to and an update of Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama All that Heaven Allows, the movie stars Julianne Moore as a 1950s housewife coming to terms with her husband’s homosexuality and her own affair with a black man. At a special preview screening, Haynes discussed the film’s astonishing craftsmanship, its political relevance for contemporary audiences, and his desire to make a film that would engage audiences intellectually and emotionally.

Far From Heaven: http://www.movingimage.us/pinewood/mp3.php?media_id=220Todd Haynes - November 15, 1998From his first film, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, the story of the pop star's rise and early death told entirely with Barbie and Ken dolls, Todd Haynes has been one of the most idiosyncratic anatomists of the culture. While exploring many of the same themes as Superstar, Haynes’s 1998 film Velvet Goldmine is an ambitious large-scale production that borrows the structure of Citizen Kane to chart the rise of glam rock and a Bowie-like star who is the movement's brightest flame. In this interview, the always erudite and engaging Haynes talks about his ongoing fascination with themes of spectacle and identity.

since i've seen the brilliant trailer for "i'm not there", which has since climbed enormously on my ladder of most anticipated films, i'd really like to see some other stuff by haynes. i saw "superstar" a while ago on google video and really liked it. you'd expect some spoof but it's heartbreaking with what kind of honesty haynes pulled that thing off. any recommendations as to which film of his i should check out next?

i'd go with Safe and then Far From Heaven. those are his two best movies (so far).

I've never been able to see Safe, but I back Hedwig on Far From Heaven. It's quite something, and with one of the greates performances ever by a leading actress to top it all, IMO.

EDIT: Also, of course, Velvet Goldmine if you're into the kind of music and living depicted in it. It's one hell of a bizarre experience, but for someone with great expectations on I'm Not There, that shouldn't be a problem.

Watch them all starting with Poison. That's four films plus a Dottie Gets Spanked. It's worth making the time.

Logged

Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

Kate Winslet is attached to "Mildred Pierce," a miniseries adaptation based on the James M. Cain novel that Todd Haynes is writing and directing. Sources said that HBO is the lead contender to get the mini, but payweb sources said no deal has been struck.

Cain's tale was famously turned into a 1945 film that won Joan Crawford an Oscar for the lead role of a bored housewife who gets into the restaurant business, an enterprise that leads to back-stabbing, romance and murder.

The involvement of Winslet--right after her Oscar-winning performance in "The Reader" and her work in "Revolutionary Road"--underscores how much paywebs like HBO have become prestige venues for films that might vanish as theatrical releases, a fact underscored by the success of "Grey Gardens," which garnered Emmy noms for Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

Haynes directed "I'm Not There," "Safe" and "Far From Heaven."

Logged

“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol

holy shit this is good news! I read the novel, and the other two big ones by Cain (Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity) earlier this year and they were all amazing. Haynes and Winslet is a perfect team for this.

Speaking of which, it was fascinating how much influence those 3 books seemed to have on The Man Who Wasn't There.

The cable network has picked up the five-hour miniseries starring Kate Winslet, which it will co-produce with MGM, Killer Films and John Wells Prods.

Haynes is directing the mini, an adaptation of James M. Cain's classic noir novel, which centers on Mildred Pierce Beragon (Winslet), a proud, single mother struggling to earn her daughter's love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles.

Haynes and Jon Raymond wrote the script for the project, which is being executive produced by Haynes, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon and John Wells. Ilene Landress serves as producer.

Casting for the other roles is under way, with production on the mini slated to begin in April in New York.

This marks the second major screen adaptation of Cain's novel.

The 1945 feature by Michael Curtiz earned Joan Crawford an Academy Award for the title role.

The Haynes/Winslet take on "Mildred Pierce" had been percolating for a month, with HBO considered the leading contender.

Winslet is hot coming off her Oscar win for "The Reader" last year.

Haynes' writing/directing credits include "I'm Not There" and "Far From Heaven."

For HBO, the green light for "Mildred Pierce" follows the critical success of another longform project toplined by feature stars, the movie "Grey Gardens," starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

Logged

“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol